Family Matters
by Lulu La Belec
Summary: Archer discovers he is a father. My first fanfic so please be nice! :- Authors note: I added a prologue, next chronological chapter coming soon!
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

"We've found her."

Jonathon Archer had been waiting 5 years to hear those words; he'd almost given up hope.

"Where is she?"

"I think you should come down to St. Francis Memorial Hospital, Sir."

Archer's heart leapt into his mouth, his throat went dry and he croaked, "I'll be right there."

Hurrying, he ended the communication link and left his office.

STAR TREK STAR TREK STAR TREK STAR TREK STAR TREK STAR TREK STAR TREK

Steven, accompanied by his wife, Felicity, was there to meet him at the hospital.

"Dad."

"Where is she? Do you know what happened to her?"

Steven gestured for his father to take a seat; Jonathon hesitated for a second, torn between wanting to see his daughter and wanting to hear what had happened. Steven noticed his father's hesitation, "They're still working on her, and they won't let you see her yet." He indicated to a door at the far end of the corridor.

Jonathon conceded and sat down.

"She's spent the past six months as a slave on Orion; she pissed a lot of people off."

"A slave?"

"Yeah. Well it's better than the Klingons; they've been after her for as long as the federation have, if they'd have got to her first, well I don't think she'd be here now."

Archer nodded; the ship Jessica had been a crew member of had wreaked havoc across the universe; pirates, they had pillaged, robbed and generally caused mischief. When one of their raids had gone wrong, a Klingon warrior had died, since then the Klingons had had a vendetta.

"She's not in a good way, Dad. I don't know the full story yet, but she's sick."

Archer put his head in his hands. "I want Phlox here; I don't want anyone looking after her but Phlox."

"He's here; he's in with her now. I guess they anticipated you'd say that....."

"When can I see her?" Archer said standing up and heading for the side ward.

"Wait! There's something you should know; she's not alone."

"What?" Archer stopped in his tracks.

Steven took a deep breath and ran a hand through his curly brown hair, "She has a child, dad; a son."

Archer took a deep breath in and blow it out through pursed lips, "I have to see her." He stated.

At that moment Phlox left the little side ward and made his way down the corridor towards a very anxious Jonathon Archer. Archer took the Denobulan by the shoulders, "How is she? Can I see her?"

"She's sleeping. Jonathon, I feel I should tell you, it doesn't look good."

Archer pinched the bridge of his nose. The Denobulan continued, "She's in multi-organ failure, I fear there is too much systemic damage to fix. We're doing all we can but we'll have to wait and see. If it were just one or two organ systems we might be able to do something."

"I... I don't understand." Archer said lamely, the gravity of the news sinking in, he'd never felt more useless, redundant and sad in his whole life. "I just want to see my little girl." He finished lamely.

"I have to warn you, Jessica has lost her sight, you will have to tell her you're there."

"She's blind? How, why?"

Phlox shook his head, "She's very sick, Jonathon, she's in a lot of pain. You can see her though, if you like?"

Jonathon Archer nodded his head keenly, his face lined with concern.

"I'd like to come too." Steven said.

"Please, one at a time, I don't want to overwhelm her. Being captured and arrested has been distressing enough for her; I don't think she could handle it."

"Arrested!" Archer exclaimed, looking at his son sharply. Steven fidgeted under his father's glare.

"I had to! She's a wanted criminal!"

"She's your sister!"

"You don't think I know that? You think I enjoyed arresting her, restraining her? Hell she couldn't even see me; she didn't stand a chance! Do you think that felt good? I did what I had to do! It's my job! You of all people should understand that."

Both men had raised their voices; looking each other right in the eyes.

"Gentlemen, now is not the time."

Archer backed down first and followed the doctor to the ward to see his daughter, glancing back only once to glare at his son.

He entered to ward quietly; the first thing he noticed was how small and fragile his daughter looked; she was 23 years old but she looked to him as young as she had the day they met. It had been nine years ago; but to Jonathon Archer it felt like a lifetime.

**9 years previously.............. 2157**


	2. Chapter 2

Caroline was dead. Archer shook his head in disbelief. She was dead. She was the first woman he'd ever truly loved, he'd been devastated, no, inconsolable the day she left him for New Berlin, on Earth's moon. There she'd lived for 14 years, until 3 weeks ago, when apparently she had taken her own life. Jon Archer felt a pang of guilt, looking at the file he'd been sent he realised with great sadness that he should have followed her or contacted her in some way to ask her why she had gone. She'd been pregnant with his children the report stated, much of the information had been gathered from Caroline's sister, Catherine. Caroline hadn't wanted him to be held back from his career, so she left to raise the twins alone. Twins?! He had twins?? There was no mistake in the report, and the dates did fit... but still! Surely they couldn't be his?!

_Bleep_. Archer jumped as the door to his quarters beeped.

"Come in." He called, his voice a lot weaker than he had anticipated.

"Hey Cap'n just to let you know..." Commander Charles Tucker the third paused, noticing the pale complexion of his commander, "Have I caught you at a bad time?"

"No, no... well yes, actually you have." Archer said, his voice still more shaky than he would have liked.

"Anything you wanna talk about?"

Archer sighed, "I wouldn't even know where to begin."

"Try at the beginning." The younger man said, sitting down opposite the captain and reclining comfortably.

Archer put his head in his hands and taking a deep breath, brought his eyes up to meet his best friends, his face lined with anxiety, "You remember Caroline, don't you?"

"What the woman who stole your heart before blending it and returning it to you on a plate? Sure I remember her!"

"Well..."

"Don't tell me, she was married and now she's divorced she's come looking for you?"

"No, not exactly. When she left, it turns out, she was," Archer paused, "Preganant, with my child, children to be precise, twins."

Trip let out a whistle, "Wow, well I didn't see that one coming! Are you sure they're yours? I mean that was, what? 14 years ago, what's she doing coming to you now?"

"She isn't coming to me now, Trip, she's dead, she killed herself. I've been informed because I'm the children's next of kin, I need to decide what is going to happen to them!"

Archer got up and began to pace his quarters, a sure sign that he was anxious.

Trip whistled again, "That's a Hell of a decision, to decide their fate. What are you thinking of?"

"Well they're with their aunt right now, Caroline's sister, Catherine, but she refuses to have them for the long term, so I have just two choices for them, either have them up here with me, or have them taken into care."

"You can't seriously be considering having them up here? This is a star ship; it's no place for children!"

"I don't know, Ensign Mayweather turned out ok."

Trip rolled his eyes, "We're not designed for families, now Cap'n I appreciate how difficult this is for you, but think about it, you don't even know these kids..."

Archer cut him, "That's exactly it! My own kids and I don't know them! I need to do something about that! Come on Trip, do you remember when you were pregnant, how protective you felt over that child growing inside you?"

"Well yeah but.."

"I've never had that; until now. Trip, I have kids and ok, it's unexpected, but I have a responsibility, I don't know if I can turn away from that. Why should they pay for my mistake?"

"So they're coming up here?"

"The truth is I don't know, I'm meeting with Catherine to discuss it with her, maybe I can persuade her to take the children and I will pay for them and visit them, but I know I can't just leave them in a children's home, not my kids, I mean what would the press make of that? And that's just the beginning; I don't want my kids to grow up in care never knowing their father."

Trip nodded in understanding, "Well, when are you meeting with Catherine?"

"This afternoon whilst we're in Earth's orbit, I'm meeting her in a cafe in New Berlin."

"Well good luck."

STARTREK STARTREK STARTREK STARTREK STARTREK STARTREK STARTREK STARTREK

Archer sat at the table with his expresso, his hands cupped nervously around the mug. He searched the cafe with his eyes, the waitress flitting from table to table, her long brown skirt flowing sexily around her slim ankles, the young couple on the table in the corner feeding their greedy toddler, at this, Archer felt a pang of jealousy, like he'd been robbed of something he deserved. But yet, if he'd been that couple with a child, he wouldn't be who he was now, the Captain of a star ship, living his life-long dream. Still, his accomplishments didn't take away the feeling of emptiness that had been growing since the second he'd learned that he'd missed out on 14 years of his children's lives. His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of a woman who looked like a brunette version of his beloved Caroline. He stood up and smiled, offering his hand,

"Hi, Jonathon Archer." He introduced himself, "You must be Catherine?"

"Cathy, yes."

"Please, have a seat." He said, pulling a chair out for the beautiful woman, "First allow me to say how sorry I am about the death of your sister, it must be an awful time for you."

The blue eyes before him saddened, "Yes, it was a bit of a shock, I mean she'd been depressed for a while, but no one ever thought..."

Archer nodded in sympathy. The woman sighed, "Anyway, that's not why I'm here."

"The children."

"Yes, the children." She said, "I'd like to make it clear, I don't have any expectations of you, I don't expect money, or indeed that you take the children in, I just felt that now Caroline has... passed on, telling you was the right thing to do, so that you have a say."

"Thank you, I really appreciate that."

"They are staying with me for now, but only until I can find alternative arrangements."

"Can I ask why you won't take them in yourself."

The woman looked down, almost ashamed, "Captain Archer,"

"Jon."

"Jon, I have three small children of my own to think about, I'm run off my feet as it is. I mean don't get me wrong, Steven is a great kid, I'd love to have him, but I'd have to take Jessica too and well, I just can't,I have my hands full already."

Archer's brow furrowed, confused, "I'm sorry I don't quite follow."

"Oh it's nothing for you to worry about! I have brought along some brochures for children's homes, would you like to help me select one?"

Archer's face flushed in a moment of anger, "No thank you, that's not why I'm here. I don't understand why you can't take your own sister's children in now their mother's died. Don't you think the kids are going through enough? I don't want MY children to sit in some home somewhere waiting for someone to give them a home."

"You don't understand; it's not that simple. Jessica is a bit of a handful to say the least. In fact to put it bluntly she is a nightmare, I do not want that child under my roof a moment longer than she has to be! As Steven refuses to be separated from her I have no choice but to give them both up."

"What do you mean, a 'nightmare'?"

"She is failing every class at school except for dance, music and art, she has an older group of friends who take her out drinking, when I ground her she sneaks out anyway, she bullies her brother, I have no idea what he sees in her, she bullies my children, she is rude, obnoxious and has a major problem with her attitude. And that is summing up the problems nicely."

Archer's jaw dropped, "And Steven?"

"Steven is wonderful. The total opposite of his sister. He's a straight A grade student, top of his class in everything, he's polite, a gentleman, he covers for his sister far too much, but he is a lovely young man, helps around the house, great with my kids. I don't know where my sister went wrong with Jessica."

Archer nodded, "But still, they are my children, I can't just let them go into a home and forget they exist."

"Jonathon, if I were you, that is exactly what I would do."

"No. I'm sorry Catherine, I can't do that. If you won't take them, then I will have to, I don't know how this is going to work, but I will not let my children be raised in a home."

Catherine's pale lips pursed, "Ok, the choice is yours, when can you take them?"

"Give me a week to make the necessary arrangements with my superiors and arrange their quarters on my ship."

Catherine stood up, "Well it's been lovely meeting you Captain Archer, a real honour."

"You too."

The woman walked away calling out behind her, "I'll get the children all packed up then!"

Archer was left to the thoughts and concerns that ran through his mind, had he made the right choice?!


	3. Chapter 3

**Firstly, thank you for the lovely reviews, I really appreciate them! Sorry for the wait for a new chapter, I'm a student and I've been rather busy. Here it is, hope it doesn't disappoint you! Sorry if it seems a little tame, I am building up to some action soon I promise. Lulu ******** xxx **

The week passed quickly, rather too quickly for Archer's liking and as the day to meet his children arrived he began to seriously doubt he had made the right decision, what did he know about children? How could he raise children aboard a star ship? There were unknown dangers everywhere, was he being fair to drag them into his world? And of course his crew had taken his decision less than well. T'pol's sarcastic remarks remained with him, '_perhaps we could all double up as babysitters during a red alert?'._ Still it was too late to change his mind; they were on a shuttle on their way up to him even as he thought. Their quarters were all set up, a small room each, right next door to his own quarters. The quarters for Jessica were decked out with a teenage girl in mind, Hoshi had helped him, mirrors hung off the wall, a dressing table in the corner, cushions covered the pink bed spread and a cuddly toy sat lonesome in the centre of the bed. Steven's quarters were decorated with scientific posters, models of star ships adorned every surface and a shelf full of books stood by the bed.

Archer had received communication an hour earlier that the shuttle would be arriving later than planned; Catherine had been vague with the details, but from what Archer could gather, Jessica had disappeared the day before they were due to leave; it had taken them all night to find her. Archer sighed. She sounded like a handful. But then, surely he could handle her, he was after all the Captain of a ship, used to dealing with tough situations and alien races, a young girl shouldn't be too much of a problem! It was then he received the communication that the shuttle was docking, finding himself surprisingly nervous, Archer made his way, accompanied by Reed and T'pol, to the docking bay, to meet, for the first time, his children.

Aboard the shuttle, accompanied by the a woman from social services, the children sat, Steven fidgeted excitedly, a Warp-Drive textbook on his knee, but his excitement was too much to allow him to concentrate on it for long. Jessica kept her head immersed in a paper bag; she had never travelled through space before and the experience was wholly unpleasant for her as she discovered that she was very prone to space-sickness.

"Jessica, you need to eat when we get aboard the Enterprise." Steven stated. Jessica glared at her brother and said

"Don't you dare even breathe a word, Steven, not one word. You know what I mean." a wave of nausea passed over her again and she returned her face to the bag. Steven gave her a frown of concern before returning to his over-excitable state. The docking process was a bumpy one and both Jessica and Steven were relieved when the shuttle finally came to a halt.

"This is it!" Murmured Steven; excitedly.

The doors to the shuttle opened, Archer held his breath anxiously; this was it! The social worker was the first to emerge from the shuttle, behind her Archer could see a young boy, slightly tall for his age and very skinny with the same medium brown hair as his own, only curlier, like Caroline's had been. Behind the boy a young girl stood, a good six inches shorter than her brother and perhaps slightly chubby, she had long blonde hair (although that was clearly not her natural colour) she clutched a sick-bag to herself with one hand and with the other, a cuddly bear. Steven took his first step onto Enterprise and was met with an extended hand from Archer, the woman from Social Services spoke,

"Captain Archer, meet your son, Steven."

Archer was rendered speechless, the boy looked like a younger version of himself and he was lost in the moment. Steven shook his hand eagerly,

"I can't believe you're my dad, this is amazing!" The boy exclaimed, and Archer melted at the child's naive ecstasy. Steven continued, "I am so pleased to finally meet you, can I please have a tour of the ship? She's a beauty! I've been reading all about her and warp technology; it's fascinating! Who could believe that my father is the captain of a star ship?!"

Archer laughed, his son was rather geeky, but in honesty he reminded him of his younger self, over enthusiastic about space travel, keen to learn and to impress adults. "There will be plenty of time for a tour later." Steven nodded enthusiastically.

The woman spoke again,

"And this is your daughter, Jessica. Jessica has been quite motion sick on the journey."

Jessica stood quietly behind her brother, her heart-shaped face pale from the space sickness, Archer was once again rendered speechless; she looked like Caroline, they shared the same enormous green eyes and high cheek bones, closer up the child was slightly pudgy, but it made her look older than 14, she was certainly a little more developed than the average 14 year old girl. He noticed a slight bruise on her right cheek but decided to speak nothing of it for fear of alienating an already difficult child. Archer extended her a hand but his gesture was openly refused, the girl glared at him right in the eyes but did not offer her own hand. Steven nudged his sister, "Jessica!" he whispered through clenched teeth.

"It's ok." Archer stated, "It's going to be tough for all of us to adapt to." He turned to his daughter, "Come on, I'll show you guys to your quarters."

Archer and Reed led the children along the corridors as T'pol saw the woman from social services back into the shuttle.

"Your belongings should get here in the next few days, some have already arrived, I think your clothes have, well, there are cases in your quarters. Once you've got settled I would like you both to have a medical with our ship doctor, Doctor Flox, just to make sure everything's ok, long term space travel can be quite a strain on the body."

"No." Jessica finally spoke.

"I'm sorry?"

"No. I'm not seeing no doctor." Jessica stated simply.

"Jess......." Steven began, but Jessica cut him off.

"No. I don't like doctors and I'm not seeing one!"

"He's the Captain; you have to do as he says!"

"It's ok Steven," Archer cut in, "Jessica, you can have a medical another time, when you're feeling more up to it, but you know he could give you something to ease your motion sickness."

Jessica said nothing but looked away. Archer sighed; things with his daughter were so far not going well. He turned to Steven, "After you've seen Doctor Flox I can give you a full tour before dinner if you feel like it?"

Steven glanced anxiously at his sister, "I'd love that, but would you mind if we ate first, I'm starving and Jess here hasn't eaten since being on the shuttle."

Jess kicked her brother's ankle and shot him an evil glare.

"Sure, is there anything you kids like to eat? I can have our cook rustle up pretty much anything you want."

"Oooooh pizza would be great!" Steven exclaimed.

"Great. My favourite too! Right here are your quarters. My quarters are just next door, Jessica yours are the ones nearest to mine, Steven yours are a little beyond that."

Steven nodded; Jessica simply stared blankly at her father before entering her room.

"I'm so sorry about her; she can be a bit difficult." Steven said in response to the door sliding after Jessica.

Archer nodded, "It's ok, things are going to be hard to begin with but I'm sure she'll get used to things. I have to ask though, Steven," Archer continued as they both entered Steven's quarters, "How did Jessica get that bruise on her cheek?"

"She covered it up with make-up; it was worse than that."

"What happened?"

"Oh don't worry, we're not abused or anything. It's not excusable really. The day before the yesterday, Jessica disappeared; she really didn't want to come into space. It took us ages to find her and when we did, Aunt Catherine just lost her temper and slapped Jess across the face. She shouldn't have done it and it's no excuse, but Jess can be difficult sometimes I guess. She doesn't do herself any favours."

Archer nodded, he felt slightly angry that someone had dared to lay a finger on his child; however he could also understand the stress of losing a child and worrying, although he doubted worry was the motivation behind Catherine's aggression. Jessica did seem to be extremely hard work; he was concerned about how he was going to cope with her.

"This room is great!" Steven cried, fingering the books on his shelves, "Thank you so much! Are these books mine?"

"Of course they are!"

"Wow, there's some really great stuff here! Science text books, mechanics, engineering, a guide to designing ships! How did you know? How did you know I want to design ships when I grow up?"

Archer laughed, glancing around at the model space craft's that hung from the ceiling, the room reminded him very much of his own room when he was a boy. "Well your aunt told me a lot of things about you; I wanted to get this place just right."

Steven sat down next to his father, "it must be so weird for you huh? I mean it's not too bad for us, we knew we had a father somewhere, we just didn't know where, but you didn't even know we existed."

Archer nodded, the boy's insight impressed him, "Yeah it's pretty weird, but I couldn't very well leave you two once I knew you existed! I'm sure we'll all adapt though, even Jessica."

Steven raised an eyebrow and laughed, "We'll just keep working on her! You know she's a great girl really, you just have to see past all the bad bits."

"Well, listen, do you want to head down to the infirmary with me now, get your medical over with, then, we can take a tour of the ship?"

"Sure thing."

"I really should try and get Jessica looked over by Flox too. Think you could help me encourage her?"

"Captain...."

"Call me Jon."

"Jon, I really don't think she's up for anything right now."

Archer nodded, hoping that at some point his daughter was going to toe-the-line and do as he said; he feared not.


	4. Chapter 4

Jon was tired and his head was spinning, he finally had some peace and space to clear his head. He had enjoyed his day, particularly getting to know his son, but his daughter, well there was where the problem lay. After getting a clean bill of health from Phlox, Steven had insisted on the grand tour. His son's knowledge astounded him; Catherine had been right, he was an A grade student, the things he didn't know about warp technology weren't worth knowing and several times Archer had felt ashamed at his inability to recall the fine details his son could. The three of them, Jessica included, had eaten dinner in Archer's own quarters, he and Steven had chatted merrily, but Jessica had merely sat there in silence, gazing sadly down at her plate. Archer had tried to instigate conversation with her a few times, but to no avail, he was either met with grunts of acknowledgement or complete silence and ignorance. Even when Steven had spoken to her she had failed to respond.

The Captain's door bleeped, "Come in." He called. Trip entered.

"Hey Cap'n, just thought I'd pop by, see how the big day went."

Archer rested his head in his hands, "Trip I have no idea how today went. I have a great son! Steven is a wonderful kid, but Jessica...... I know I need to be patient; I was warned she wasn't going to be easy to get along with and her mother has just died and I've completely uprooted her life and brought her here. I mean did I do the wrong thing? I had the best intentions, but is that enough?"

Trip looked at his friend sympathetically, "Cap'n, you're gonna be a great dad, I mean Hell just look at the way you've bonded with your son!"

"Trip, I'm out of my league here! Who did I think I was kidding? I don't know how to be a dad! I drag two children away from their friends, their home, everything they know and expect them to just adapt up here, being tutored via comm. Links and computers, no other children for them to interact with! Maybe this was a bad idea, but I can't change that now! I can't just let them meet their father, spend a little time with him and then pat them on their heads and send them back to New Berlin to live in a children's home! It would cripple Steven and I don't think Jessica would take too kindly to that either. Although I doubt Jessica would take kindly to anything! Oh Trip, I made the wrong decision and now there's nothing I can do. What am I going to do?"

"You haven't made the wrong decision, you were in a tough situation and you did what was best. I know the crew have given you a lot of stick, but personally I admire you! You did the right thing; you stepped up to your responsibilities when the easiest thing to do would have been to walk away! Now no one said this was gonna be easy, Hell I lived with a teenage girl for a long time and man they are hard to figure out! But, you will get past this; you just need to be patient! D'ya want me to try talking to her? I kinda know how the female teenage mind works; Liz was a nightmare herself at the best of times."

Archer looked at his friend gratefully; they had a long history of friendship together and he could trust Trip more than he could trust anyone, even T'pol. At that moment though, he felt a great swell of pity for his closest friend; Trip had never quite recovered from the death of his baby sister and now here on his door step he had the closest thing to a substitute; the difficult daughter of his Captain. He looked into the younger man's earnest blue eyes and smiled, "Thanks Trip, I really appreciate all the help I can get!"

In her quarters Jessica lay curled up on her bed; she hated this whole situation, space travel was not the life she wanted. She missed her friends. Her mother had always called her friends a bad influence, they were older and they drank alcohol but Jessica had enjoyed that lifestyle; she had really been able to be herself. She needed a drink more than ever right now, it wasn't that she had a problem, she rarely drank every night, but she felt she needed something to numb her senses, take her mind off her situation, or more accurately her _location_ and make her feel closer to her friends again. She missed her boyfriend too; eighteen year old Hugo, he was artistic, cool, a painter who spent most of his time opening his mind with various substances and painting the most amazing canvases. People termed him a hippy; claimed his behaviour was very 21st century but she was besotted with him. There was a large difference in their ages, but to her it didn't matter; she knew she looked older than 14 and she hadn't bothered to correct his assumptions that she was 16. She closed her eyes and conjured up a picture of him in her mind, his floppy black hair cascading over his deep brown eyes. Jessica smiled to herself briefly before remembering that her chances of feeling his lips against hers again were remote because she was stuck on a bloody star ship! Who the _Hell_ wanted to spend their time in space anyway? It was just full of darkness and stars and nothing bored her more than being on a star ship, she knew this after only spending the last 6 hours on one.

Jessica leaned over to her handbag and took out a retro hip flask containing vodka and took a swig; that was better, the warmth radiated down to her stomach, soothing her. It wasn't too long before she had finished the entire flask and her eyes blurred with the pleasant sensation of intoxication. Suddenly she felt the best thing for her to do would be to leave her quarters and explore the ship; she wasn't used to being in bed early nor to spending her evenings alone; company is what she craved and any company was better than that of her geeky brother. Standing up, wobbling slightly, Jessica crept, dressed in her pink vest top and shorts pyjamas and left her quarters.

In his quarters, Steven sat up in bed reading one of his new books on astrophysics; his heart was set on being just like his father one day, a great captain of a star ship, designer of his own ship, he even had a name for her, Trinity, after a great 21st century scientist. The day he and Jessica had been told that Captain Jonathon Archer was their father had been one of the happiest of his life. He was deeply saddened by the death of his mother; they had been very close, but Steven was extremely optimistic in his nature and despite his grief he viewed the changes extremely positively; today was the first day of the rest of his life! This was it; he had an opportunity to realise his dreams and to experience life on an actual star ship!! No one, not even Jessica could ruin this for him, he was over the moon (quite literally) and keen to learn as much as he could. Being the son of a great Captain could only serve as an advantage to achieving his future ambitions. So absorbed was he, in his reading, that he failed to hear his sister leave her quarters and head off down the corridor.

Archer and Trip remained in Archer's quarters talking, reminiscing about old times and trying to work out ways of getting through to Jessica. They had been talking for a good few hours when Lieutenant Reed's voice appeared over the com.

"_Reed to Archer"_

Archer went over to the panel and pressed the button, "Go ahead."

"_Captain, we have a..... Situation in the mess hall, we need you down here well..... now."_

Archer frowned and looked at Trip, "Apparently there's a situation in the mess hall, would you like to accompany me?"

As Archer entered the mess hall he was astounded at what he saw and at first was rooted to the spot open mouthed. Jessica was being restrained by Hoshi and Reed; Reed was holding the girls arms behind her back whilst Hoshi was trying to sooth her, stroking her hair, asking her to calm down. Jessica however was in a blind rage and the mess hall was..... a mess. Smashed glasses and bottles were scattered everywhere, angry crew members were shouting at the officers and his daughter. As he entered the room however everyone fell silent, everyone except Jessica.

"Get your bastard hands off me!" she was screaming as Reed held her fast.

"What is going on here?!" Archer cried as he approached his daughter.

"Long story, Captain." Reed said, struggling slightly against the girl's vicious struggles; whoever said women were the weaker sex were wrong!

"Jessica came down here about half an hour ago, started propositioning some of the younger crew members, they were uncomfortable and felt it was inappropriate so I stepped in to stop her and all Hell broke loose." Hoshi claimed.

Archer could see the Hell; he had his first task of the havoc his daughter could wreak. He stepped towards the girl and could smell the alcohol on her breath,

"Have you been drinking?" He cried disgustedly.

"So?" she replied, looking him straight in the eye, well as straight as she could look. Her blonde hair flopped over her face, her make-up was smudged from the tussle and right now Archer had never felt so disrespected, ashamed or embarrassed in all his life. Trip stood behind his commander, his arms folded. His own sister had been a trial at times, but this was new territory for him, the girl was clearly unruly and out to cause as much trouble as she could.

Archer turned to Reed, "It's ok, let go of her." Reed complied and stepped back as Archer stepped forwards, grabbing his daughter tightly around her right wrist, he could feel her pulse racing there in anger. The girl squirmed in his grasp and screamed piercingly, "Shut up now, or will seriously regret it!" Archer spat through clenched teeth. He turned to his crew, "Clean this mess up, my daughter and I have some things to discuss." With that he turned and pulled his daughter out of the mess hall with him.

"Argh stop, please! You're hurting me." She whined all the way to her quarters. Archer opened the door and roughly pushed her in first. He couldn't remember ever feeling this angry.

"What the HELL was that all about?! You can't just come aboard MY ship, proposition MY crew members like some, some, some......" Archer thought for a moment and his rage took over again, "WHORE!" He sighed, regretting that one instantly for a moment but the defiant look in his daughters eyes enraged him once again. "And you've been drinking?! What the Hell? You got anymore on you Jessica? What do I have to do? Search your stuff? Don't look at me like that! You are a CHILD and I am an ADULT; your FATHER and you are going to do as I SAY and toe-the-line; have I made myself clear?"

"You're NOT my Father! I don't HAVE a father! I don't have to do anything you say. You are NOTHING to me!" She screamed at him right in his face. At that point Archer could see how Catherine had lost her temper enough to hit the child. He stepped back, calming himself down before he was tempted to do the same; no matter how angry he was he was never going to raise his hand to the girl.

"Jessica, you are stuck on this ship now whether you like it or not! Believe me _I _am not liking this, not one little bit! You are as much of a nightmare as I had described to me! I should have listened to your aunt and stuck you in a children's home!" Once again Archer regretted saying that as soon as the words left his mouth. Jessica stood looking at him open-mouthed. She took a step back and fell onto the bed. Archer wasn't sure but for a second he thought he saw tears well up in her eyes. Before he could do anything his son stormed in.

"So that's the way yyyyou really feel is it?"

"Steven wait,"

"No!" His son cut in, "Yyyyour as bbbad as everyone else! Yyyyyou dddddidnt even ggggive her a chance! And nnnow we know yyyyyou dddddon't want either of us hhhhhere. Yyyyyou're just wwwworried about what the mmmmedia would mmmmake of the gggreat Captain Archer sssending his children into a hhhome!" Steven was overcome with emotion, tears freely rolled down his face and he stuttered getting his words out. He had suffered from a stammer since he was a small boy, with therapy he had overcome it but when he was very angry or upset he lost control. The boy went over to his sister and put a protective arm around her. Taking a deep breath he said calmly, "I will take care of her from here and mmake sure she ddoesn't go anywhere."

"Steven,"

"With all ddue respect Captain, my sister needs to sleep this off, wwe can ttalk in the morning, right now is not the tttime. Wwe all nneed to cool off."

Archer raised his hands in defeat and left their room, he trusted Steven to ensure there were no more nightly trips. He felt awful, he had said a lot of things he didn't mean. He should not have lost his temper like that; he had known Jessica would be badly behaved and should have been prepared to deal with it. She was clearly doing everything she could to get on the next shuttle back home, but Archer wasn't going to give up on his kids that easily.

In Jessica's quarters Steven was pulling his sister into her bed.

"Why Jess? Why are you determined to ruin everything for us?" he whispered to her. "I _know_ this is hard for you, it's not easy for me either, but please Jess, please _try_. For me." He wiped a loose tear from her cheek. She nodded at her brother, suddenly feeling more delicate. "Are you feeling ok?" He asked her, frowning in concern.

"Not really." She shook her head.

"I'll get you something to eat, hold on." Steven got up and made for the door.

"Please," she cried, "Please don't tell him." Steven nodded in agreement and left her quarters. He pushed the buzzer to his father's quarters and entered at Archer's command.

"Steven?"

"Jessica needs something to eat to sober her up; I was wondering if you could arrange that?" Steven said; his face deadpan.

"Steven I am so sorry, I said a lot of things I didn't mean. Of course I want you guys here; I want to get to know you. You sister.... she's hard work, it's no excuse I shouldn't have lost my temper, but I am not used to being disrespected in the ways I have been tonight."

Steven sighed, "I know. I know you didn't mean it. I've seen people get angry with Jess before, she can bring out the worst in people, but you have to understand, things aren't as easy for her as they are for me. She has good reason for being the way she is."

"I'm listening."

Steven sighed, feeling guilty he was about to betray Jessica, "Jessica isn't just lazy at school; there's a reason she doesn't get the grades I do. A reason I feel guilty about every single day."

Archer looked confused.

"Jessica has learning difficulties, bad ones, she used to try at school but I don't think she has ever passed an exam in her life. She's not retarded, she has had IQ test after IQ test, she's very bright, but she just can't learn things and it's not her fault.... it's mine."

"I don't understand."

Steven took a deep breath, "When we born, there were.... complications. A few days before we were born, mum told me, we were both in the normal position, our heads were both pointing towards the birth canal and I was slightly ahead of Jess, ready to be born first. Mum was scanned a lot around this time because she had something called pre-eclampsia; high blood pressure in pregnancy. She was on hospital bed rest. Anyway at some point I decided to turn around so that my feet were facing the birth canal and as I did so my umbilical cord twisted around her neck. This wasn't a problem until mum was in labour, as Jessica started to come out the cord tightened round her neck and labour was halted. She stopped breathing and mum was given a caesarean section to deliver us both together. Her heart rate had fallen very low and it took the doctors a while to get her breathing again. They believe that the damage her brain sustained during those minutes has been permanent. Her IQ scores are so high there is no other explanation, she can understand information and problem solve but she cannot retain the information or utilise it. If it wasn't for me, Jess would be as smart as me and she wouldn't have been living in my shadow. Everyone hails me as Steven Archer, boy genius, and her as Jessica Archer, the bad one, the one who can't match up to her perfect brother." Steven spat the last part. "After a while she gave up trying all together. She does the things she does because she's frustrated, she is smart but can't use it and she gets bored. She also resents the world and me for the way she is."

Archer nodded feeling a great swell of sympathy for his children, especially his little girl. A lump formed in his throat; he had said some terrible things to her.

"Steven, it wasn't your fault. You can't blame yourself, you were an infant, you didn't know what you were doing." He put his arm around his son.

"I know that! But it doesn't stop me feeling terrible. If that hadn't happened, Jess would be more like me and not how she is. That is why I will put up with anything from her. I love my sister more than anyone,Jon. Nothing is going to change that."

Archer again nodded, feeling nothing but admiration for his son.

"Please, I really need to get Jess some food."

"Sure, I'll come with you to the mess hall, we can rustle her something up together."


	5. Chapter 5

Hoshi and Malcolm assisted the other crew members with cleaning up the mess Jessica had made; Malcolm was furious. He had known letting children aboard a star ship would be a bad idea! What had the Captain been thinking? Reed, being from a proud military family, had been raised to have automatic respect for his superior officers and commanders, however he often found this respect challenged by the actions of Captain Archer. Sure the man was a great Commander, fair, loyal and moral, but sometimes his decisions had been questionable and this was one of those decisions. As he swept the broken glass from off the table tops and into the waste disposal units he cursed under his breath.

"Is something wrong, Sir?" Hoshi asked, "Did you cut yourself?"

"No, no thank you Hoshi, I'm fine." Malcolm replied, offering her a brief smile.

"I know it's hard getting used to kids around the ship, but you know, I quite like it." The young woman smiled.

"Like it? What's there to like, here we are sweeping up the mess of a wild teenage girl and she's only been here half a day! It's only going to get worse."

Hoshi smiled again, "She's certainly a character, I'll give her that! Besides, she reminds me of someone when she was a teenager."

"Oh yeah, who is that?"

"Me. I was a real trouble maker too; I think I've told Commander Tucker way more than I should have about my wayward past. Give her time Malcolm, she'll settle down. Apart from that it'll be nice having more female company aboard."

"There's T'pol....."

"Like-minded female company then. I think having the kids on board will be fun."

Reed shook his head and returned to the task at hand, muttering something that sounded like, "For God's sake I'm Chief of Security; not a bin man!"

Trip stood in the corner of the mess hall overseeing the demolition clean up. He was staggered. Of all the people aboard, Tucker knew teenage girls the best. Lizzie had been his best friend as a child and he had known how to handle her teenage tantrums. But Jessica took her tantrums to a whole new level, she had totally smashed every glass and bottle in her path, thrown plates of food to the floor, kicked over tables. She was positively unhinged! Trip didn't know how Archer was going to handle this and he contemplated telling his Captain to abandon the whole project and send the kids back to where they came from. They were the crew of a star ship for goodness sake; they didn't need this kind of hassle. If the kids knew how to behave themselves then great, but Jessica was intolerable and she hadn't even spent her first entire night aboard yet. However, Trip could also understand why Jon, his best friend, would want to give things a try with his children; he was a man of honour and responsibility and Trip knew he was going to be a fantastic father.

On the bridge, news had reached T'pol of Jessica's outburst in the mess hall, she shook her head inwardly. Humans could be illogical at the best of times, but Captain Archer's decision to allow juveniles onto the ship defied reason and common sense. The children would have been perfectly adequately cared for in a home on New Berlin and T'pol could not see any viable reason why two juveniles whom Archer barely knew should be given free roam of the ship.

In her quarters Jessica had started to feel quite ill, her stomach churned and the room span. She was relieved when her brother entered with a sandwich for her; she was not so relieved to see he had brought the Captain with him. Archer sat on her bed,

"Hey Jessica." He started, "I just wanted to apologise, I said a lot of things I didn't mean and I just want you _both_ to know that I _do _want you here, both of you, very much." He looked down at his hands, this was awkward and embarrassingly he was stuck for words. He had never been this tongue tied in his life; he was the Captain, forever dealing and negotiating with difficult situations, these were his children, it shouldn't be this hard! Jessica tucked eagerly into her sandwich but at least acknowledged his presence. Archer nodded, accepting her smile as progress. Jessica finished her food and finally spoke, softly,

"I'm not sorry I wrecked your mess hall." She stated simply. Steven rolled his eyes and prayed Jon did not lose his temper again.

"Why, Jessica? You should be sorry; you made a fool out of me and cost my crew some relaxation time that was well earned." Archer did his best to remain calm and patient.

"I hate it up here. You think I want to be on your ship at all? You've dragged me away from my home, my friends, and my boyfriend."

"You have a boyfriend? Aren't you a little young?"

It was Jessica's turn to roll her eyes, "No!"

"Look I'm sorry Jessica, truly I am. But what were your alternatives? Do you want to be in a children's home?"

The girl looked down at her hands and shook her head.

"Do you have any better ideas then? If you have I am willing to listen." Archer smiled inwardly; he might finally be getting somewhere.

The girl thought for a moment, "Maybe we could all go and live on New Berlin?" She asked hopefully.

"I'm sorry Jess, I really can't do that, I need to earn money and my job is here."

"You could get a new job?"

Archer felt like a brick was in his stomach, his heart ached to do what his children wanted, but he simply couldn't give up his whole life for them, not when things could still work the way things were.

"I'm sorry Jessica."

She scowled for a second before coming up with another idea, "Well Hugo's 18, I could stay with him!" her face lit up at the idea of living with her boyfriend.

"Hugo's your boyfriend?"

Jessica nodded enthusiastically.

"I'm sorry Jess, you're 14 years old, I can't allow you to live with your boyfriend, and the fact he is 18 is just wrong! What kind of 18 year old takes advantage of a 14 year old?"

"You don't know him so don't you even dare pass judgement!" She snapped, "Besides, I'm old for my age."

"Ok, I'm sorry." Archer said quickly, keen not to antagonise her further, "But I still can't let you live with your boyfriend, I wouldn't be a very good father if I did."

"You're not a good father anyway! You've never been there and I don't even know you!" Jessica was starting to raise her voice again, frustration mounting.

Steven stepped in, "That's unfair, Jess! How was he supposed to be a father when mum didn't even tell him about our existence?"

Archer nodded, "It's true. And I'm sorry I wasn't there sooner, but now I know I really want to be a part of your lives, _both_ of your lives."

"What if I don't _want_ to be part of your life? What if I just want to be part of my own life; the life back on New Berlin, with my friends and Hugo?"

Jon sighed, "Well as I see it, you have virtually no other choice, so you're going to have to get used to it. Now get some sleep, we will start laying some ground rules in the morning."

Jessica scowled, but felt sleep wasn't far away, the alcohol was working its way through her system and making her tired. She stifled a yawn, lay down and rolled over so her back was to Archer.

"Good night, Jessica." Archer said pointedly.

"Good night, Captain." She spat back.

Archer nodded at Steven who indicated he wanted to stay a moment longer, and left his daughter's room.

Steven sat down on the edge of his sister's bed, "Jon's really trying you know?"

"Oh wow, first name terms already! You took no time forgetting his 14 year abscence!"

"Jess, we've been through this...."

She rolled back over to face her brother, "Have we? Because I'm not quite clear on the details! If he loved our mother so much, why didn't he follow her to New Berlin and learn about our existence instead of waiting until she died?"

Steven winced at his sister's bluntness.

Jessica continued, "I'll tell you why! Because he didn't want to know, he didn't want to find out anything that might destroy his precious job in space. He's a selfish coward and he doesn't care, he's full of bullshit!"

"Well whatever you think, we're here now and you're going to have to make the best of it."

"I tried tonight and look where that got us!"

"You tried by coming on to crew members, getting blind drunk and wrecking the mess hall?"

"I was trying to have fun!"

Steven rolled his eyes, he was getting nowhere. "Well I'm going to bed, can I trust you to stay put?"

Jessica nodded, sleepiness already washing over her overwhelmingly.

"Did you take your medication?"

Again she nodded. Steven left it there, pulled the blankets up to his sister's chin, switched off the light and left her room.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note – to understand this chapter please ensure you have read the new prologue!**

**Present Day, 2166**

"Jessica." Archer whispered, careful not to wake his daughter up if she was sleeping. The monitor registered a dramatic increase in heart rate and the young woman in the bed gripped the covers around her. "It's ok, sweetheart, I'm not going to hurt you." He said gently.

"Dad?" she said, her voice barely more than a whisper.

Archer took that as his cue, he walked over to the bed and took hold of her hand, from behind him Phlox spoke, "How are you feeling, Jessica?"

"Phlox? Where am I? What happened?" the woman was getting visibly distressed, the monitors were going crazy and tears brimmed in her dull green eyes.

"Settle down, Jessica, it's ok, you're safe now. You need to try to keep calm, you've been through a lot."

"Am I in prison?" she cried tearfully.

"No, sweetheart, you're in a hospital in San Francisco." Archer pulled her hand up to his lips and gave it a kiss, "I'm not going to let anyone take you, ok?"

Jessica wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded, settling back onto the pillow for a second before sitting bolt up-right.

"My baby? Where's my boy? Charlie?!"

"I'm here mummy." A little voice piped up from the corner, Archer turned a saw a little boy of about five years old sat in the corner, his knees drawn under his chin, the child was visibly frightened, but determined not to show it. Archer almost smiled; the boy looked so much like his mother. The child stood up and ran to his mother's bedside, standing between her and Archer, "Stay away from my mummy, she can't see!" His little face was screwed into such a look of determination and defiance, Archer was almost amused; he'd been on the receiving end of that very look from Jessica countless times. Jessica groped around and found her son's hand and pulled her child into her. Charlie responded by snuggling into her chest. His bravery escaped him and he let out a little sob.

"Shhhh, it's ok baby; it's ok." Jessica soothed.

"Why don't I take Charlie for something to eat? He must be hungry." Phlox offered, Jessica instinctively pulled her child closer, seeing this, Phlox added, "It's ok, I'll bring him back, you can trust me." Jessica loosened her grip and nodded.

"It's ok Charlie, this is doctor Phlox, he's going to take you for something to eat."

"But I want to stay with you, mummy, I have to keep you safe."

A lump formed in the young woman's throat, "Go on baby, it's ok, mummy's safe." She whispered, planting a kiss on his soft, blonde hair. The boy nodded, gave his mother a kiss on the cheek and left with Phlox.

"We won't be long, Jessica." Phlox said as he left the room holding the boy's hand.

Archer pulled a chair up to his daughter's bedside and stroked the loose hair out of her face, wiping a stray tear of her cheek with the same motion.

"Oh baby girl." He whispered.

Jess sighed and winced a little.

"Are you ok? Are you in pain?" he asked gently.

"Mmm a little. What's going to happen to me?"

"Don't worry about anything right now, concentrate on getting better."

Jess squeezed her father's hand, "Please look after Charlie." She yawned, sleepiness overcoming her.

"Of course I will." Archer's face was lined with concern, "Until you're better. Then he can run you ragged again."

Jess smiled a little as she drifted off to sleep. Archer remained by her side, stroking her hair. He hated seeing her like this; Jessica had always been tough and stubborn, Archer had only seen his daughter this vulnerable once previously........


End file.
